The Pruning Process Produces Restoration
July 10, 2021
Commentary
This Psalm is a national prayer for restoration. The key word might be translated either “restore us” or “bring us back” (from captivity). The Palmist urges God to listen, wake up, and go to work to save His people (vv. 1-2). Three times is this chapter the writer calls on God to restore us “Turn us again"(vv. 3, 7, 19). The Israelites didn’t need a change of circumstances, but a change of character. They are praying for God to smile on them (v. 3). It was not that God’s back was toward them but their back was toward Him. They were the ones that needed to turn around, not God.
Repentance must come before restoration which means a turning from sin. Repentance involves humbling ourselves and turning to God to receive His forgiveness. As we turn to God, he helps us see ourselves, including our sin more clearly. Then as we see our sin we must repeat the process of repentance. The psalmist uses the metaphor of a vine for Israel (vv. 8-19). In ancient times the vineyards were often enclosed by stone fences (Isa. 5:5). The psalmist wonders why God has broken down those fences so that any passerby has the opportunity to pluck and ravage her grapes. On the earth today, the vine is His Church. Its prosperity depends on the Lord looking down from heaven and visiting the vine. He brings us to Himself by His pruning. The branches that bear no fruit are cut off. The farmer will tell you that in order to grow good grapes you have to prune the vine. The better they are pruned the stronger the vines grow and the more luscious the fruit is.
Application
If there is one thing I do not like in my spiritual experience, it is when God begins to prune me. However from that experience of loss there comes a fruitfulness which makes me glad. After the pruning there comes a new and luxurious restoration of life in which I can really enjoy God.
Psalms 80:1– 19 (NET)
1 O Shepherd of Israel, pay attention, you who lead Joseph like a flock of sheep. You who sit enthroned above the cherubim, reveal your splendor.
2 In the sight of Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh reveal your power. Come and deliver us.
3 O God, restore us. Smile on us. Then we will be delivered.
4 O Lord God of Heaven’s Armies, how long will you remain angry at your people while they pray to you?
5 You have given them tears as food; you have made them drink tears by the measure.
6 You have made our neighbors dislike us, and our enemies insult us.
7 O God of Heaven’s Armies, restore us. Smile on us. Then we will be delivered.
8 You uprooted a vine from Egypt; you drove out nations and transplanted it.
9 You cleared the ground for it; it took root, and filled the land.
10 The mountains were covered by its shadow, the highest cedars by its branches.
11 Its branches reached the Mediterranean Sea, and its shoots the Euphrates River.
12 Why did you break down its walls, so that all who pass by pluck its fruit?
13 The wild boars of the forest ruin it; the insects of the field feed on it.
14 O God of Heaven’s Armies, come back. Look down from heaven and take notice. Take care of this vine,
15 the root your right hand planted, the shoot you made to grow.
16 It is burned and cut down. May those who did this die because you are displeased with them.
17 May you give support to the one you have chosen, to the one whom you raised up for yourself.
18 Then we will not turn away from you. Revive us and we will pray to you.
19 O Lord God of Heaven’s Armies, restore us. Smile on us. Then we will be delivered.